Commission's Major Activities National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2016 2. Major complaints A. Gender discrimination ● Gender discrimination in hiring, including forced resignation because of upcoming marriage While investigating a complaint from a female employee of liquor company XX who was forced to resign because of her upcoming marriage, the Commission identified gender discriminatory practices in the company’s overall personnel management, and considering the severity of the issue, carried out an ex officio investigation. The investigation revealed that the company had forced female employees to resign because they were going to marry, and furthermore that there was only one female employee among the 170 employees in the sales and administrative positions, all key positions in the company. Female employees were also found to be in lower ranking positions compared to their male counterparts, and excluded from promotion to manager positions or higher. Moreover, the company did not allow women to take family leaves related to their mother’s side. On 25 May the Commission recommended that the company establish a corrective action plan, and establish and implement fair, gender-equal personnel management criteria. ● Exclusion of women from military scholarship The complainant filed a grievance against the military scholarship programme because it was open only to male students in all services, blocking the application of female students. An investigation revealed that the military scholarship programme as prescribed in the relevant statute did not restrict gender eligibility. However, it was determined that, in practice, the military does in fact block applications from female students. Thus, on 22 December, the Commission made a recommendation to the Minister of National Defense to improve the military scholarship selection system so that women are not excluded from applying for the scholarship. 66